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Karen’s gasp when those broteps said that women should vote was my exact response too but only after it hit me that they were so serious. And the endorsement of Fatal Attraction, just so damn perfect. Some of these episodes have some unpredictable twists that are too good.

I’m sure I’m not the only person who immediately thought of Will Smith’s framing of the issues in November 2015. I guess this was before he and Jada decided to talk about boycotting the Oscars. Maybe the constant killing of black people hit him harder sooner. Anyway, he put the issue this way in November 2015: “And I have to say, I live with constant prejudice, but racism is actually rare — someone who thinks their race is superior.” That came from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/will-smith-racism-prejudice_us_5653620fe4b0d4093a589b64

It’s insane that that textbook uses Cubans as an example of Latino respectability. First, Cubans tend to be a solid republican voting block. Further, their relationship with America is completely different. Like Puerto Ricans, they don’t have to deal with undocumented status. So, of course, assimilation is far easier than it is for other Latinos. It doesn’t surprise me, though. Remember, Texas is the same place with textbooks that were released that called slaves “migrant workers”.

I grew up in Texas. It took me until after graduate school, when I was already a professor, to realize that I needed to try to unlearn my mandatory Texas History class. It really drives home how deliberately white domination must be reinforced. They don’t leave anything to chance. More than 50% of the children are Mexican-American? Let’s make sure they never have a chance to seem themselves without this distorting lens. Infuriating.

I am completely with you Prof, I’ve been in Texas all of my life and never thought of questioning my education when it comes to history. I moved to Austin when I was 19 and suddenly heard friends making remarks about the bullshit they (we) were taught. After a little self education I realized that my entire view on American history was severely skewed. I’m now a mother of 3 with my oldest entering 3rd grade this year and my husband and I have had to actually make a game plan concerning contacting our local elementary school to preview his forthcoming textbooks. It’s absolutely ridiculous that 2 tax paying non educators are charged with fact checking our local PUBLIC school to make sure they give our children a proper and accurate education. I fucking hate my state.

Most of my maternal family is still in TX. Stuff like this is why I tell as many of them as possible to make sure they vote in non-presidential elections. That’s when the republicans pushed most of this through. We also need to make sure we pay attention to the information tested in AP courses. Last year, Republicans pushed back against the history tests because they felt it hurt the idea of “American exceptionalism”. This stuff is happening and, outside of educators, hardly anyone is talking about it.